(JTA)—I lived in Minnesota for five years. My wife is from there; her family still lives there. When we return to visit, we have to reckon with a frightening reality: My in-laws’ newly elected congressional representative is deeply implicated in anti-Semitism. We are not dealing with minor missteps that can be overlooked. We’re dealing, after [...]

Hands United Building Bridges Week 2019 Hands United Building Bridges’ (HUBB) second annual Building Bridges Week brought the Tidewater community together for several meaningful events including a Shabbat service at Ohef Sholom Temple on Friday, January 11; the Summit Against Hate on Monday, January 14; and the screening of An Act of Defiance on Monday, [...]

The BIG Saturday Night Celebration of Jewish Film and champagne reception Saturday, January 26, 7:15 pm, Sandler Center for the Performing Arts Tickets: $35; Under 21: $18 Ty Kelly, Team Israel and New York Mets player, and Seth Kramer, director, will speak following the film. Had Israel competed in the World Baseball Classic…Dayenu! Heading Home: [...]

Presented by Alma & Howard Laderberg and Patricia & Avraham Ashkenazi January 21 – January 30 As one of the longest-running Jewish film festivals in the nation, the mission of the 26th Annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film, presented by Alma & Howard Laderberg and Patricia & Avraham Ashkenazi, is to educate and engage diverse [...]

Tidewater’s musical weekend with Rick Recht combines fun and inspiration Rick Recht spent four days in Tidewater connecting with educators, NFTY and BBYO high school students, Hebrew Academy of Tidewater and Strelitz Early Childhood Center students and their families, participants of community services at Ohef Sholom Temple and Congregation Beth El, and with hundreds more [...]

Singer-Songwriter Rick Recht to perform community concerts in Tidewater Thursday, November 29–Sunday, December 2 A popular Jewish rock star, Rick Recht is also an educator and leadership motivator. During his visit to Tidewater’s Jewish community, Recht will bring his unique brand of high-energy, interactive Jewish rock music to multiple audiences at varied venues. Recht’s music [...]

Across the nation, vigils, services, and town hall meetings have taken place since the horrific murders at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday, October 27. The same is true for Tidewater. In sanctuaries and in public spaces and in private schools, the Jewish community has mourned and received tremendous support from other faith communities and [...]

The 11 victims of the Saturday, October 27 attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue included two brothers with intellectual disabilities, a married couple and a physician who assisted patients in the early days of the AIDS crisis. The chief medical examiner of Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County released the names one day after a gunman opened fire at [...]

Israel Today’s first ever artist-in-residence, Hanoch Piven, will lead a variety of workshops for people of all ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities, as well as display his work in the Leon Family Gallery during his two-week Tidewater visit, October 15–October 26.

The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater kicked-off its 2019 Annual Campaign to a standing room only crowd on Thursday, Sept. 6 at the Sandler Family Campus. Featured speaker Izzy Ezagui— IDF soldier and author—addressed the packed room, and kept the audience spellbound as he recounted the harrowing and heartening experiences of his life.